


A Peek Down The Yellow Brick Road

by VulcanAizawa



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Marriage, Post-Finale, Season/Series 16, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29520990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VulcanAizawa/pseuds/VulcanAizawa
Summary: "I get it. I do. You and Sammy are trying to do that whole 'it's dangerous to know too much about your own future' thing, yeah? Don't worry about it. We both know what's waiting for me at the end of this road, okay?"Yeah, they were trying to keep things as vague possible, but just one little thing is fine, right? Just something to give this kid a little hope... because that's what he was. A kid.God. Looking at himself now, Dean barely looks even as old as Jack.(Basically I can't stop thinking about what a time-travel accident episode in the current era would look like.)
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 4
Kudos: 128





	A Peek Down The Yellow Brick Road

**Author's Note:**

> Set after the DeanCas Wedding.

"You don't gotta do that, you know."

Dean looks to his right, where his past self slumps back against the alley wall as they wait for his own Sam and this Dean's John to finish questioning the bookshop owner. They hadn't wanted to risk their nearly duplicate faces drawing attention, even with the twenty years of age between the two. Besides, the shop was close quarters anyway, and with this time period's Sam having freshly run off to Stanford the current tension between his brother and his father was... well.

Anyways, Dean was rather happy to be out on surveillance duty with his past self, and he'll leave it at that.

"Do what?" he scoffs, giving a perfunctory look around the corner. It's a pretty low stakes stakeout at the moment, just trying to hunt down some obscure lore, so Dean doesn't bother giving it his full attention.

"Act all happy and shit, man," his younger self mopes, shoving his hands awkwardly into the pockets of dad's jacket. Dean had forgotten he always did that when he got nervous and didn't want anyone to see him fidgeting. "I get it. I do. You and Sammy are trying to do that whole 'it's dangerous to know too much about your own future, yadda yadda' thing, yeah?"

He let's his head fall back heavy on the brick of the building behind him as he huffs out a little sigh, and Dean winces. The days of him being able to be so carelessly rough with his body were long gone.

"Seriously man, don't worry about it. I already know what's waiting for me at the end of this road, okay? So just..."

It's kind of fascinating actually, watching his younger self try and find the words. Nose all scrunched up in frustration. Eyes darting this way and that. Crinkling at the corners as his mouth twitches. Dean can't believe he used to think he was subtle. Have his emotions always been so blatantly plastered across his face like that? So many tiny little movements, all adding up to tell a much bigger story than he ever thought he was telling...

"Just stop pretending everything turns out peachy, okay? It's pissing me off!"

Ah yes, Dean remembers how he thought his life wind up back then. Of _course_ he does. Hell, it was the same way he'd _always_ thought he'd wind up. It wasn't until very recently that his expectations had ever changed.

Lonely. Soul-crushingly lonely. Painful. Full of nothing but violence and death. Hunt after hunt after hunt. An angry soldier. A blunt instrument. Until finally, the very end, when all the death he'd been sowing around finally comes back for him, bloody and brutal - at the end of a knife, or the barrel of a gun.

Yeah, he and Sam _had_ been trying to keep as much under wraps as possible. But surely... surely one little thing could be fine, right? Just something to give this kid without any light at the end of his tunnel a little hope.

Because that's what he was. A fucking kid.

God. He doesn't look much older than Jack. He was far too fucking young to be so hopeless, so resigned, so... hell. He was just too _young_ , plain and simple. Dean feels the rage against his father swell up again in his chest, the same rage he's been working so hard to keep under control since they arrived here.

"Actually," he starts slowly, slipping his hand into his own pocket and finding the precious little thing he slipped away, hidden from his father. Not out of shame, exactly, just to avoid the consequences of any prying questions or the accidental reveal of just a little too much... John wouldnt take certain parts of it well, and he just didn't feel up to dealing with that whole can of worms quite yet.

He pulls his hand back out, treasure acquired, and lifts it to eye level. "We end up pretty okay, kid."

He watches his younger self's mouth fall slack at the sight of the ring, the twenty-two year old boy clearly dumbstruck at the thought... not just of any sort of future, at _all_ , but also... love.

An unconditional, happy ever after, till the day we die kind of love. Well, as far as this 2001 version of him knows. That last particular line was left out of their vows - he and Cas both knew death would never be able to part them. In fact, the poor little rookie knew better than to even try.

Past him is quiet, for a while. He doesn't take his eyes off Dean's ring, and Dean sees the tiniest glimpse of hope start to spark in them. He's starting to understand what Cas means now, about Dean needing to see himself as someone worthy of love, of a home, of good things... looking at himself from the outside, at a young man who has just been told for the _first_ time in his life that _it_ _ **will**_ _get better..._

He wants to do more, _explain_ more, tell his young self all about how one day he'll be able to stand up in front of the world and tell it that he loves a man, and feel no shame for it (only a little fear - Dean doubts the full extent of John's influence will ever fade completely). And not just a man, but an honest to god _angel_ , that good things _do happen..._

But no. That would be too much. Too dangerous. For now, this will have to do.

Past him clears his throat and shifts awkwardly against the cold wall, apparently remembering the english language at last.

"Woah... no shit?"

Dean can't stop the soft chuckle that bubbles up from his chest.

"Haha, no shit."


End file.
